HHS HealthBeat (April 16, 2009)

Marijuana and brains

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Researchers have literally seen the brains of young adults who were heavy marijuana users.

At The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Manzar Ashtari looked at images of 14 young men who smoked for years, including about six joints a day in the year before they stopped.

Ashtari says the ex-users had abnormalities in parts of the brain that interconnect regions involved in memory, language, thinking ability, and ability to make decisions.

Ashtari says her work is preliminary. But she advises:

[Manzar Ashtari speaks] ``Especially during late adolescence, smoking marijuana definitely will affect normal brain development. And normal brain development affected is going to affect functions.’’

The study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April, 16 2009